THE £100 million Jervis Shopping Centre opened its front door to the public yesterday morning, but the doors to many of the retail units inside remained closed.
The centre has over 60 outlets on four levels, but a number were not ready for business yesterday. A spokesman for the centre said cup to 70 per cent of the outlets were open by last night.
One of the anchor tenants, Debenhams, was fully operational from the opening hour and took the lion's share of the customers yesterday morning, and other stores, including Next, Argus, BHS, and Champion Sports were doing a brisk trade.
The centre is the capital's largest single construction project this century, and will eventually create 2,000 jobs. It has attracted some of the leading names in European and Irish retailing.
According to the facts and figures issued by the management, the centre was "finished" in a record-breaking 13 months.
However, construction work continued yesterday at the Jervis Street entrance, and hammering could be heard from behind the shutters in a number of the closed shops. Builders had been in the centre until 6 a.m. yesterday putting the finishing touches to the stores which did open.
One shopper, Ms Cecelia Massey from Santry, was impressed by what she saw. "It is excellent - lovely and spacious. I am disappointed that there is not more open but I suppose it is alright for starters. As a Northsider I am very pleased with it."
Ms Hilary Keay from Dalkey agreed. "It will be nice when all the shops are open. I am a bit disappointed that Boots is not open yet."
The management spokesman said that all the stores should be open in three weeks time, including Quinnsworth, which opens on November 26th.